Instagram Bans Birth Photographer During World Breastfeeding Week

A popular Australian photographer, known for her photos about birth and motherhood, had her Instagram account banned and deleted the first day of World Breastfeeding Week.

Melissa Jean Wilbraham is a 33-year-old photographer from Australia’s Sunshine Coast who shares photos of pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding to over 18,000 followers and fans.

However after trying to log in to her account on Saturday, Wilbraham learned that her account had been deleted for not following Instagram’s terms and it could not be restored.

“It was like being punished for celebrating the miracle of life,” Wilbraham told Daily Mail Australia.

Instagram’s basic terms of use states that users “may not post violent, nude, partially nude, discriminatory, unlawful, infringing, hateful, pornographic or sexually suggestive photos or other content”. Instagram reviews and deletes content after it is reported as inappropriate by other users.

Upset at first, Wilbraham chose not to tell anyone as she decided what to do next, but after speaking with friends, she felt an overwhelming amount of support.

“How ironic that the very day ‘World Breastfeeding Week’ began, my business was removed from Instagram. There will always be sad humans who report my images but I will NEVER let this stop me celebrating & normalizing the miracle of life…” she said, posting a message on her Facebook page.

Instagram later came out to comment on the story after being requested by the Daily Mail Australia and says that the platform is not opposed to images of breastfeeding.

“We looked into what happened here, and this was a pure mistake that we’ve now rectified. We are sorry that this happened, but we use cases like this to learn and improve. We have reached out to @melissajeanbabies and apologized for our mistake,” an Instagram spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.

Wilbraham’s Instagram account was later restored and since her story, she has gained thousands of new followers.

Despite her setback, Wilbraham says she is now more inspired than ever to continue her work.

“I’m actually grateful for the haters because without them none of this would have happened.”

“Going forward I’m more passionate about it than ever, I’m definitely not going to allow the negatively to make me conform to what they want. I think this is so important to normalize birth and breastfeeding.”